CIA Opens Bigger, Revamped Museum and Debuts Podcast on Its 75th Anniversary
(DailyVantage.com) – For decades, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has acted as one of the United States’ primary defenses. The organization often shrouds itself in secrecy, including the contents of its very own museum. While the CIA has made some significant updates to its unique repository for its 75th anniversary this year, one thing remains unchanged: it’s closed to the public.
Inside the CIA Museum
The CIA Museum is only open to employees of the agency and official visitors. Still, for its anniversary, it’s letting the public in on some of its secrets, albeit virtually. The CIA recently let a smattering of journalists into the exhibition for the first time. Inside, visitors received an in-depth look at the history of the organization’s successes and failures.
The museum houses more than 600 artifacts showcasing the CIA’s history from WWII through current national security issues. Director William Burns says, “History is absolutely key to understanding intelligence.” To succeed, the agency must learn from the successes and failures of prior missions, and that’s the gallery’s primary goal: educating intelligence staff.
NPR reported the ceiling inside the museum is one of the building’s most interesting features, completely covered in various codes, including Morse, ciphers, a jumbled-looking crossword puzzle, and dominoes.
CIA Museum Goes Online
While the agency is often shrouded in secrecy, it does plan to post most of the artifacts online for the world to see. The exhibits, including the codes on the ceiling, will be available on CIA.gov and through the organization’s social media sites. Deputy Director of the Museum, Janelle Neises, said the codes are solvable and seeing who will be the first to decipher them and how fast is intriguing to the intelligence community.
Models of Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound, where Navy SEALS killed him in 2011, and Ayman al-Zawahiri’s home, where CIA operatives took out the terrorist leader back in July, are among the exhibits people might expect to see online.
Not all of the presentations are about success, though. The agency knows it’s crucial to learn from missions gone wrong, too, so viewers can see the failure to oust Fidel Castro in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
In addition to making the exhibits available online, the CIA also launched a podcast called “The Langley Files.” The agency hopes to use each 15 to 30-minute session to share stories, educate, and engage with the public.
Are you curious about the CIA’s new venture?
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